Car-seal.



PATENTED JULY 14, 19013.

S. F. ESTELL.

no MODEL.

lit-o. 733,708.

iJNiTED STATES Patented July 14, 1903'.

PATENT OFFICE.

CAR-'SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 733,708, dated July 14, 1903. Application filed December 18, 1902. Serial No. 135,706. (No modehl To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL F. ESTELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Seals, of which the following is a specification and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof. I

This invention relates to that class of seals comprising a metal strap designed to be passed through the staple or other fastening device of the door of a car or other closure and have the ends thereof so engaged as to prevent opening ofthe door without mutilating the seal.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and eifective seal which may be made at very low cost and which shall be of such character that it may be readily attached and when once secured proof against manipulation without destroying its utility.

The invention consists of the parts and arrangement of parts hereinafter particularly described, specifically designated in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 illustrates the blank from which the seal is made. Fig. 2 shows the blank after having been shaped for assembling. Fig. 3 is a perspective of the seal in the process of forming. Fig. a is a perspective of the catch designed to be concealed in the head of the seal and to engage the free end of the seal-strap to prevent withdrawal of the latter. Fig. 5 is a perspective, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the seal in its fastened position. Fig. 6 is a similar view of the opposite side of the seal. Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section through the head of the seal on the line 7 of Fig. 5. Figs. 8, 9, and 10 are transverse sections on the lines 8, 9, and 10, respectively, of Fig. 7.

As in the car-seal shown in Patent No. 689,172, granted to me December 17, 1901, the head and shackle of the seal are preferably rnade from a single sheet-metal strap or band 15, the blank for the same being shown in Fig. 1 of the present drawings. is provided at one end with widened sections 16 and 17, one of which, or 17, is of greater width than the other. \Vhen the blank is Such blank V shaped up by suitable dies, thesection is provided with adepression 18, Fig. 2, at least as wide as the end of the strap, and which when the section 17 is bent back on the section 16 forms a chamber for the retaining means and the opposite end of the strap, as will be hereinafter more fully described. Before folding the sections 16 and 17 together the strap adjacent the inner end of'the section 16 is bent into the said section and then back upon itself, as shown in Fig. 3, thereby forming a hook or abutment 19, extending into the chamber of the head 20, as clearly shown in Fig. 7. Located in the chamber of the head 20 is a catch 21, designed to engage the end of the strap inserted in the chamber and prevent its withdrawal. The exactlocation of this catch is not material, and it may be arranged as in Fig. 7, where it is shown as a tongue punched or cut out of a plate 22, disposed in the chamber between the hook 19 and the section 16, the tongue or catch pointing toward the innor end of the body and pressing against the adjacent side of the hook 19. The catch 21 having been placed in position, the section 17 is bent back upon the section 16 and its lateral edges or flanges bent over the edges or flanges of the section 16, as shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, and by reason of the depression in the section 16 a passage or opening is provided between the section 17 and the adjacent side of the hook 19. The free end of the strap has a hook 23, designed to engage or interlock with the hook or abutment 19 in the chamber of the head 20, and such hook may be secured by bending the end of the strap back upon itself, as shown in Fig. 3. That part of the strap entering the head of the seal-that is to say, the hook 23is provided with an abutment, obstruction, or other device designed to be engaged by the tongue or catch 21, and which, as in the present instance, is the front wall of an aperture 24: in the hook 23, through which the tongue 21 passes when the seal is secured.

In using. the seal after the shackle is passed through the staple of the door to be fastened or sealed the hook end of the strap is entered into the head 20 through the passage provided therefor until its edge slips off the end of the hook 19 and expands, due to the resiliency of the metal, so that upon pulling the end as if to withdraw the hook the latter will interlock with the hook or abutment l9 and also have its opening engaged by the catch or tongue 21, as shown in Fig. 7, thereby locking the end of thestrap against movement in either direction. The catch 21 being located under the hook, 19, it is impossible to reach the same With a tool if an attempt is made to disengage the said catch from the hook to release the same without cutting the strap. To prevent the strap being cut off and then inserted in the opening of the head again to conceal that rupture, the strap is provided with a boss 25, which may be struck up from the strap and tapered toward the end of the latter and designed to enter a correspondingly-shaped groove or recess 26 on the inner face of the section 17, and which recess may be formed by striking up the metal of the said section, forming a rib 27. This rib also serves to strengthen the head along the front edge of the section 17. The boss 25 is of such length that when the seal is fastened it extends beyond the head, as shown in Fig. 5. In case, then, that the strap is severed and its end is afterward inserted in the passage of the head the disappearance of the boss would indicate to the inspector that the seal had been tampered with. It is to be noted, however, that if the strap should be cut as described the end could not be inserted, owing to the presence of the stub in the head, and if the boss should be flattened out to facilitate the entrance of the strap the metal would not only spread out beyond the width of the opening, but the disappearance of the boss would indicate the mutilation of the seal.

To avoid the seal being released without mutilation thereof by turning back the flange of the section so as to separate it from the other section, these flanges are crimped, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, so that the act of bending the flanges insures their breaking.

I claim as my invention+ 1. In a car-seal, in combination,a strap having a chambered head at one end integral therewith and provided with an opening at its inner end, the strap being bent into the chamber and back upon itself to provide a hook extending into the chamber, a hook at the opposite end of the strap having an aperture therethrough and engaging the hook in the chamber, and a catch located in the chamber between the chamber-hook and the Wall of the head opposite the opening for engaging the aperture in the hook.

2. In acar-seal, in combination, astrap having a hook at one end and a hook-engaging head at the other, a boss struck up from the strap near the hook thereof and tapering toward the latter, and an outstanding rib in the front wall of the head and providing a tapered recess on its inner face into which the boss enters.

3. In a car-seal, in combination,astrap having a chambered head at one end provided with an opening, a hook located in the head, a hook at the end of the strap for engaging the chamber-hook, and a boss on the strap near the hook thereof and tapering toward the latter, the wall of the head having a tapered recess on its inner face into which the boss enters and from which it protrudes when the seal is fastened.

4. In acar-seal, in combination,a strap having an open-ended chambered head at one end and an apertured hook at the other, the strap being redoubled upon itself within the chamber and forming a hook for the engagement of the hook at the strap end, and a spring-detent rising from the bottom of the chamber and directed toward its open end and engaging the aperture of the hook.

SAMUEL F. ESTELL. \Vitnesses:

ARTHUR B. SEIBOLD, LOUIS K. GILLsON. 

